FINSOUT to Launch an Easy-to-Use Surfboard Fin Removal Tool

Every surfer has had a hard time taking their fins out of their board. Maybe because it’s cold, the water inside the fin socket crusted, or the socket just seems too tight. Whatever the reason, we’ve all had this problem.

The quick solution is to place a towel over your hand during removal but even then, you run the risk of pulling so hard that the fin flies out of your hand. If this happened to you while you were on a boat trip, you run the risk of your fin flying straight into the ocean. Well, that’s exactly what happened to founder of FINSOUT, Kris O’Brien.

Kris O’Brien gettin’ after it on his annual boat trip (that stole his fin) with his buds. Photo: Courtesy of Bruno Viega

A year after O’Brien lost one of his fins to the sea, he woke up at 3 a.m. one night with an idea so compelling that he ran to grab a pen and paper to draw the model of the world’s first fin removal tool: the FINSOUT fin remover.

Changing fins has never been easier. Photo: Courtesy of FINSOUT

Why We Chose It

Fins are expensive. Buying yourself a new surfboard can be justified, but after you buy the board, it’s hard to justify buying a new set of fins. Considering that fins can cost around $100 brand new and you already have a set of fins on your other boards, it’s easy to just switch your fins from board to board.

If you’re like us, you’ll go this route and simply become too lazy to switch your fins each session (and typically just end up only riding one new board, even in less-than-ideal conditions). If we ever do get around to switching fins, it can often take much longer than we’d like, and be a frustrating task considering how often they get stuck.

Why We Liked It

This is the only product of its kind. It’s a basic design, easy to use, and small enough to keep in your backpack. And we primarily ride the Superbrand Spam, which works great as a thruster, as well as a twin. So, we’re always wanting to switch the set up to play around with the drive of a thruster and the freedom of a twin, but often run into a problem: Being too lazy to switch them up.

This tool does its one job very well, and we must say that it has helped break us free from our lazy tendencies and use the fins that are right for the day.

We also handed the product off to a friend of ours at SURFER that has two boards with the FCS II system but typically only uses one set of fins. She described how hard it can be to take her fins out in cold conditions and how it hurts her hand to do so even when it’s warm.

We gave her the FINSOUT fin remover and she came back raving about it. (So much so that she refused to give it back.)

Tester Tip

We suspected that the plastic-on-fiberglass contact from the FINSOUT to the fins could potentially damage them, but we were wrong. The plastic has grooves in the perfect spot to alleviate any concern of applying too much pressure to your fin. The FINSOUT simply works, and we’d recommend anybody with the FCS II system to give it a whirl.